Frankfurt's heller coinage of this period was issued under the city's status as a Reichsstadt — a free imperial city answerable directly to the Holy Roman Emperor rather than any territorial prince. That status made Frankfurt's mint output politically distinct from the surrounding Hessian and Palatine territories, even for the smallest copper denominations. The heller itself was by this date largely a ghost of medieval monetary reckoning, retained mainly because Frankfurt's commercial ledgers and local wage customs still denominated small accounts in it.
Frankfurt's heller coinage of this period was issued under the city's status as a Reichsstadt — a free imperial city answerable directly to the Holy Roman Emperor rather than any territorial prince. That status made Frankfurt's mint output politically distinct from the surrounding Hessian and Palatine territories, even for the smallest copper denominations. The heller itself was by this date largely a ghost of medieval monetary reckoning, retained mainly because Frankfurt's commercial ledgers and local wage customs still denominated small accounts in it.